Ever met anyone who (you thought) pronounced their own name wrongly?

[ErmineAndPearls]

Inspired by a few posts on the Secret Confessions thread. I once met a woman called Leigh. She insisted that everyone must call her “Lay”. Also, a whole family whose surname is Onions, but they pronounce it “O’Nyons”. Like, just own it or change the spelling. There are more.

No. You can't pronounce your own name wrong because it's your name.

Names are adapted and evolve just like other words.

This is why there are dozens of different versions of John, for example, or are we all saying the Hebrew name wrong?

There is not two spellings. But there is three pronunciation depending on which syllable you stress.

Madeline - depends on your accent? Like some people say med-sin for medicine. It’s just accent rather than a different pronunciation.

I have also met a Sian who pronounced it Cyan. I couldn’t believe she was one of two Sian’s in a department so I had to be very careful when calling and addressing them!

okay

I was at school with a Naomi, which she pronounced Nayummy with more emphasis on the N, if anywhere. It was definitely supposed to be pronounced like that as her mum was a teacher, and said it a lot.

she now calls herself Nay OHmi, and some of her friends say Neye OHmi (to rhyme with eye)

I don’t have a clue which way is right anymore.

@Changes17

No, they muddled 2 names

The Italian is spelt Chiara

Michelle is a French name.

and in French it’s correctly pronounced Mee-shell, not Mi-She’ll.

I worked with a Janice who insisted her name was J’neeze

Sorry I spelt it wrong - Keziah.

This is why there are dozens of different versions of John, for example, or are we all saying the Hebrew name wrong?

Do you mean different versions according to country and language or the dims it produced in England?

Depends on the language.

The fowler, s in Eastenders used to call Michelle fowler Mee shelle is in not just a regional thing ?

SHOWbin is wrong. It’s not an adaptation or an evolution of Siobhan, it’s an arbitrary pronunciation - and while the person whose name it was can insist all they like, everyone knows Siobhan isn’t pronounced that way, just like apple isn’t pronounced pear.

What I was really surprised by recently is the fact that Americans pronounce Aislinn / Aisling as Acelin - I know names get phoneticised in new languages (and I think for example that the modern pronunciation of Caitlin is much nicer), but Acelin sounds odd to me because it’s so much less attractive than the original

That’s how it’s pronounced so not sure what point you’re making!

I was in a post office queue many years ago behind a woman with a new baby, when she got the counter the staff member said, Ooh she's here! She's beautiful, what have your called her? The mother replied "why-VO-knee" and after a bit of back and forth about how she was spelling that unusual name, it turned out to be Yvonne, that old classic from the back of the baby book.

And I know a Karen who pronounces her name Car-Ren. Which I've not heard before either.

I've heard Var-ree for Mhairi (girl from Aberdeen so I assume she was right!) and Varry (from Somerset).

There was a Sorcha at my school who pronounced it Sorrika.

For me, good and wood rhyme and mood and food rhyme but with two different oo sounds. Woof to me has the first oo version, shorter than roof which has the second oo version. SW England.

That's interesting. I think I've only come across it twice.

Yes! This annoys me massively….I know it’s not huge in the great scheme of things but DH is mightily fed up of me ranting that she isn’t called ‘Sooty’, not unless you share her Derbyshire pronunciation 🤬

Wood does rhyme with roof though.

Why would it rhyme with wuff?

The Aaron I know pronounces it as Aron and that's the only way I've heard it pronounced here (scotland)

I agree that Woof rhymes with Roof

Oh I thought it was 'ay' as in Helen pronounced ay-len. I misunderstood, my cousin's name is pronounce ay-len, which is how é is pronounced in French

But obviously they don't for the person who made the initial post. Hence why she wrote it.

You mean woof rhymes with roof? I bet food rhymes with good in your accent too.